Like Copilot, Like Captain: The Importance of Left-Seat Mentoring

With the airline industry now upgrading at warp speed, the opportunity for these pilots to experience all types of leadership remains limited.

Les Abend

Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 09:29 AM ET

Verified

As of April 2023, all Part 121 carriers are required to have a leadership and command program in addition to mentor training for captains. [Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

The author recounts how diverse experiences with captains, ranging from combative and uncommunicative (Captain Dave) to well-meaning but socially awkward (Captain Jack), served as an informal yet valuable form of leadership mentoring.
These encounters, both challenging and humorous, significantly shaped the author's own leadership skills and command presence as they progressed in their aviation career.
The article emphasizes the current need for formal leadership and command programs, along with mentor training, for new captains.
This formal training aims to compensate for reduced opportunities for copilots to experience varied leadership styles due to rapid promotions in today's airline industry.

See a mistake? Contact us.

I stepped across the cockpit door threshold. The captain was in the process of testing the weather radar on board our Boeing 727. Shuffling behind the flight engineer and slithering into the copilot seat, I glanced at the green screen of the old but reliable RCA display. It took more art than skill to operate.

With a scowl on his face, Captain Dave turned to our wet-behind-the-ears flight engineer and said, “Call maintenance. The radar is spoking in the video band.”